Mr Newcombe said that Defty had a previous conviction for threatening behaviour and the couple had been frightened by his wild and aggressive actions.

Nigel Soppitt, defending, said that Defty had spent three hours with the husband in the afternoon and the meeting had ended in an argument when the couple had told him that they did not want anything more to do with him.

Defty had been drinking and taking drugs when he went to their home at 4.30am, and he accepted that he had been argumentative and aggressive.

Mr Soppitt said the situation escalated when the couple armed themselves with the knife and metal pole.

He added: “They threatened him, which they are entitled to do, but there was a scuffle and he left.

“He regrets very much what he did because he considers them friends, and he had let them down because of turning to drink and drugs.

“It is very much out of character, but there is only a hint of violence in his past. He has been with his partner for 12 years and she is a very steadying influence for him.”

Recorder Nicholas Lumley QC sentenced Defty, of Ryedale Street, North Ormesby , was given a nine-month jail sentence suspended for 12 months and he was ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work after he pleaded guilty to causing an affray on February 13 last year.